ATM fee dispute goes to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will hear appeals from Visa and MasterCard, as well as major banks, in a case accusing those parties of preventing ATM fee competition, according to Reuters.

The case contests the fee structures surrounding ATM network processing, which plaintiffs allege were devised when Visa and MasterCard were still private companies owned by a coalition of member banks. The case had previously been thrown out by a trial judge, but was revived in a DC appeals court last summer.

For context, ATM operators pay fees based on the network through which the transaction is routed. Some of those networks, such as those run by Visa and MasterCard, might be more expensive than others. The plaintiffs in the suit believe that Visa, MasterCard, and major banks colluded to prevent ATM operators from passing on cost savings from non-Visa and MasterCard options to consumers in the form of lower fees, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This case could be critical because ATM fees are on the rise. The national average fee for using an out-of-network ATM was $4.52 in 2015, an increase of 21% over the previous five years, with the portion of that fee charged to customers by the ATM operator itself up to $2.88, according to Bankrate. If the court decides against card networks, it's possible that there could be more fee variety.